McGarry hosted the Saturday morning quiz show for high school students from its inception in 1961 until he stepped down in 2011. Over the course of his career as a quizmaster he asked more than 200,000 questions of thousands of high school students. The show's format included three teams of three students each competing against each other.

Mark McGarry says his father died Thursday at the age of 87 of pneumonia.

He was a graduate of Fordham University and a native of Atlanta, Ga. He lived in Potomac, Md.

Hillary Howard now hosts "It's Academic" on WRC-TV in Washington. A Baltimore version of the show is hosted by Dave Zahren.